Making the Fox the Focal Point
- Kaaren Poole
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Last week I took a “stay-cation” and spent most of my art time working in my latest art journal. It was so relaxing and fun. And beyond that, by the end of the week I had completed three spreads, and that means I have only the covers to do to fill my seventh art—so exciting!
When I reported on my fox art spread last week, here’s the stage I’d reached. I was very close to being finished, but there were some important things left to do.
The most important task will be making the fox the focal point. And to do that, I’d have to deal with the two very dark butterflies which bounce the viewer’s eye back and forth from left to right and back again without settling on our beautiful vixen.
Cooling It Down
Here’s the finished piece. And before I say anything else, I’d like to comment on the temperature differences between this and the previous image. It could partly be due to the lighting when I took each photo. But also, I’d pushed a lot of the black and white collage elements back with white and other pale washes. And, to sculpt my fox, I added manganese blue shadows which further cooled the overall look of the piece. Once I had the blue on the fox, I decided to add some elsewhere in the piece, and you can see the thin washes as well as blobs of turquoise alcohol ink throughout.
Making the Fox the Focal Point
The white washes in the background helped decrease the spotty look of the overall piece and so provide fewer distractions from the vixen. But there were also a few special areas which needed attention.
Adjusting the Importance of the Butterflies
Those on the Left
The two butterflies on the left were a problem in a couple of ways. First, the white butterfly was lost against its background while the dark butterfly popped way too much! To correct these problems, I brightened the light butterfly with white and added more dark around it to heighten the contrast between the butterfly and its background.
Conversely, I darkened the background around the black butterfly to reduce the contrast. And I added a border of loose lines to contain the image. The three leaves at the bottom of the dark butterfly’s background contribute to containing the images and also provide a third element in this part of the spread. Many people seem to prefer groups with odd numbers of elements rather than even numbers.
Little bits of turquoise alcohol ink integrate this part of the spread with the whole.
Those on the Right
The problems with the insects on the right were similar. The dark one stood out way too much while the lighter one was lost. Also, the value pattern of the light butterfly was too similar to that of the fern leaf next to it.
To bring out the light butterfly I added white behind the feelers to increase the contrast between the background and the butterfly. And on the bottom right, I darkened the background then added the row of tiny white dots around the edge of the wing where it was now similar in value to the background. To lessen the competition with the fern leaf, I added a dark wash over much of it which had the effect of lessening the contrast within the leaf element, pushing it back.
To lighten the dark insect, I glued a bit of tissue paper over it, which dulled it considerably. I chose tissue paper rather than a wash of thinned gesso because I though it would give me more even coverage.
Adding the row of black dots between the dark insect and the fern accomplished two things. First, it added detail. I thought it needed this because my tissue paper not only lightened the insect but also obscured the detail in the background collage element there. Second, it seemed to link the four elements (the dark insect, the row of black dots, the fern, and the light butterfly) into a coherent group. The more I can link elements into groups, the fewer elements I have visually, leading to less competition for the focal point – the fox’s face.
The Fox’s Face
The main thing I tried to do around the fox’s head was to bring out the florals. I did that by adding white highlights with a Posca pen and adding depth to the centers of the flowers with paint. I also added the leaves, which I cut from used teabag papers. Shadows on the fox’s fur beneath the flowers helped set the flowers on her hear.
I now see that I somehow lost the dark areas inside the ears. I’ll have to bring those back, as I find it much better with them.
The Bottom Line
So, I think I achieved my goal of bringing out the fox as the focal point.
On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about adding so much cool. I do think that it was too evenly warm when I began this painting session. But did I go too far? This jury is still out!
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